The Mission of the Georgia Council for the Social Studies is to advocate for, support, and celebrate the
advancement of quality social studies teaching for Georgia students.

The Vision of the Georgia Council for the Social Studies is to prepare students to be knowledgeable,
effective decision makers and engaged citizens in a globally interdependent world.

2016 Annual Conference Keynote Speaker Bios

Dr. Jan Reyes

Thursday, 3:45 P.M. - 4:30 P.M.

Athena F-J

Dr. Jan Reyes is Program Manager for Test Content Development in the Assessment and Accountability Division at the Georgia Department of Education. She is a former middle school teacher and has been with the Department of Education for four years. She led the development of open-ended formative assessment items in all content areas and has been highly involved in the development and scoring of Georgia Milestones. Join Dr. Reyes on Friday afternoon as she discusses Social Studies Georgia Milestones Assessment data and future social studies assessments.

Dr. Beth Rubin explores how youth civic identity and belonging take shape within local contexts marked by history, culture, politics and economics. She works with teachers to design and study curricular and pedagogical innovations that attend to the complexities of youth civic learning.

Dr. Rubin co-founded the GSEís Urban Teaching Fellows program to cultivate thoughtful, outstanding urban educators, run the Social Studies Education program to empower critical civic educators and mentor doctoral students to develop the next generation of excellent researchers grappling with issues of social justice and education. Dr. Rubin has written 3 books and numerous articles dealing with youth civic education.

The appearance of Dr. Rubin is sponsored by the Mary Hepburn Scholarship Program at the University of Georgia. Join us on Friday to enjoy Dr. Rubinís session.